|
Monday, August 17th. Deauville was all smiles as the last lot of the 2009 Arqana Deauville August Sale was sold to David Redvers for €27,000 at 7.48pm on a sunny Monday afternoon. One year after the record 2008 edition, the turnover has once again passed the €40m bar at €41.5m. It remained stable despite the economic downturn. The average gained 3.6% at about €115,000, the median was up 7.1% at €75,000 and almost 75% of the lots presented were sold. The market was again very strong on Monday with an average up 1.3% at ca. €46,500.
Whether the crisis is over or not, French racing and breeding is thriving and Arqana benefits from :
A. Its team's excellent work, saluted by everybody at Deauville, were they consignors or buyers, and the breeders' efforts to reach the new standards of the Deauville August market.
B. The prizemoney and the premiums on offer on the French racecourses thanks to a fair cut on the pari mutuel pools.
Lot 391 was Monday's top lot at €140,000. The Enrique Frenchbred filly went to bloodstock agent Alain Decrion, representing Horseracing Press tycoon and prominent French owner Jean-Claude Seroul. Together they secured four lots for €402,000 after a bitter Sunday : "We were beaten a few times by a short head and it had been a very long and frustrating day. All our horses will be boarded to the South East of France, where Mr Seroul is based and where his horses are trained."
Seroul has got a few horses in training at Alain de Royer Dupre's in Chantilly, such as Tiza and Gris de Gris, and with other trainers in the country but most of his horses are trained near Marseilles by Frederic Rossi, who took over Jean-Marc Capitte this Summer.
Paul Nataf bought the day's 2nd top lot, Lot 357 at €135,000, a Medicean French Premiums eligible filly consigned by the Haras de la Louviere, his favourite source of winners (Classic winners Latice and Lawman were bred at Chryss O'Reilly's French stud farm). The filly will be trained by Jean-Marie Beguigne for Libyan owner Salah El Mabruk, whose first purchases in France are now 2. "We bought our first horses last season. Some are trained by Jean-Marie Beguigne, but Cedric Boutin and Philippe Demercastel have got a few too. This filly was my best mark today. Mr El Mabruk has also 50% of Lot 227, a €130,000 Lando sister to Calvados Blues he shares with Enrico Ciampi." The latter, one of Paul Nataf's main patrons, skipped the Deauville meeting this season but was on the phone with his agent throughout the sale.
Lot 380, a Nayef colt consigned by Patrick Chedeville's Haras du Petit Tellier, was sold €105,000 to MAB Agency, one of the sale's top buyers (22 lots for €1.9m). "His owner has not been named yet but he's by a magnificent sire who does not cover an extended book of mareswhile ths stud farm where he was raised has produced many good racehorses."
Lot 360, sold €100,000 by the Haras de la Perelle, will be trained by Nicolas Clement for Norwegian owner Mister Ess, of Vespone and Stormy River fame. This grey Shirocco colt consigned by Jurgen Winter's Haras de la Perelle is a ¾ brother to Gentlewave (Monsun). "He's a very athletic athlete," said Clement. And he's very closely related to the good Gentlewave. Apart from the €320,000 Galileo filly I bought on Friday for a French breeder, I was buying for Mister Ess. It is hard for the buyers. I was often beaten throughout the sales."
A thorough reader of Frogsracing, French trainer Jean de Roualle invested €85,000 in Lot 405, a Barathea brother to the good 2yo Tall Chief (Observatory) whose excellence has been regularly notified by Le Frog (Rupert Pritchard-Gordon has given the Khalifa Dasmal protégé a 6-weeks break and plans a return in the Autumn around 7 furlongs). The grey and purple colours of the Lamprell partnership will be supported by the filly, even though the owners did not stay the whole weekend at Deauville : "The market on Friday was scary," stated Roualle. We might invest on more horses in October. This filly was expensive enough but I like her brother a lot and trained Comillas (a Gr3-winner out of the yearling's 3rd dam)."
Abeth Mussat bid €90,000 for Lot 399, her most expensive purchase of the weekend. The Clodovil filly should be trained in France for one of Mrs Mussat's main patrons, a foreign breeder. "It was a bit of money but I thought this filly was splendid. Her Verglas brother has been placed twice for Carlos Lerner and I think the family will flourish again. I also loved her second dam Abbatiale. I also bought Lot 203 for €60,000 on Saturday. It was cheap because she was listed as a colt on the catalogue and was not qualified for the French premiums. My client does not care as he buys fillies essentially as broodmare prospects. They might not be French but their offspring will ! Anyway that Captain Rio filly is beautifully bred and her Desert Style brother has won his maiden at Kempton recently. I got Lot 341 for €20,000 on Sunday. She's an Oratorio filly that did not fetch much once again because she was not eligible to the French premiums. It is a shame cause she is very pleasant." She'd also made €18,000 at Goffs as a weanling.
Irish pinhooker Con Marnane bought seven lots on Monday after a two days' drought (he purchased a Dubawi colt for €50,000 on Friday), including two Marchand de Sable yearlings, lots 352 (a very good mover who will come back to France in the Spring) and 378. The latter is a full brother to Stoneside, a Gr3-winner in the USA that Con Marnane bought and sold in France : "I had a soft spot for him. I always concentrate on good movers and both were. The market was difficult during the first two days. The French premiums are getting very expensive ! But France got the whole thing all right. The money goes to the owners. I have won a maiden with a filly qualified for the French premiums the other day (Flowers in Spring, trained by David Marnane, at Clairefontaine on Monday) and we got about €20,000 for that. You have to win ten races to get that sort of money in Britain !"
Aussie Rules's foals are so gorgeous that he's nicknamed "Sexy Aussie" at McCarthy's in Fethard. His first yearlings were on show at Deauville and they were all sold at an average €45,600. At the top of this short list stands Lot 443, a Prime Equestrian purchase made by Eric Libaud, who also bought Lot 270 €65,000 for the young owner. The dark grey filly is very stylish and the Etreham graduate literally "seduced" Libaud.
Literato's Archange d'Or sister was rather small and she only made €32,000, paid by Gerard Larrieu's Chantilly Bloodstock.
|
Bloodstock 
Comments